In our area, moles in the lawn and garden are pretty common. Each year we get visits from these subterranean pests and each year we set traps and hope they find them. We usually get only one a year to poke his little snout into the jaws of death. This year, we started out with the same tactic without any success, so one night in mid August, we noticed a new mound in our front yard and decided to try something new for us. We had heard of others using a garden hose to encourage the mole to show his snout, so we thought we would give it a try.
We turned on the hose and shoved it into the newest mound and the water started backing up out of the hole, so we tried the next one and the water kept flooding into the hole. After a few minutes I notices the grass moving and sent Terri to fetch the pitchfork. While she was gone I kept the water going and watched as the unwanted visitor tried to escape the flow. When Terri returned with the pitchfork I stabbed the ground where the movement was and finally out of the ground on the end of the fork was a fat little mole. I poked him a few more times to ensure he would actually die and left him in a bucket overnight to be sure.
This morning, we again noticed some new mounds in the yard and thought we would try again. This time I came prepared with hose and fork. After alternating between the two newest holes with no luck, I tried a smaller one and it took water well and in a few minutes the mole showed himself in the first hole we tried to flood and I quickly stabbed him with the pitchfork and lifted him out of the hole.
Hopefully these are the last two for the year, they really make a mess of the grass and garden areas.
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